Mississippi Ranks High in Early Learning Quality

Mississippi’s early learning collaboratives have been rated among the top five in the nation for quality standards.
Public pre-k began in 2013 when the legislature passed the early learning collaborative act, providing free pre-kindergarten to local communities throughout Mississippi.
While the recognition by the National Institute for Early Education Research shows Mississippi on the right path to jump-starting children’s education, the early learning collaboratives only reach a small percentage of eligible children across the Magnolia State. State Superintendent of Education Dr. Carey Wright said, “The collaboratives are only touching between 1,700 to 1,800 children and you know we’ve got over 40,000 four-year-olds. So, the need is there and the desire is there, but it takes funds to open this up.”
This year, the state legislature allotted $4 million for the early learning collaboratives which will allow 600 more children to attend publicly funded pre-k.